Haleiwa Heroes

LOCAL knowledge ended up ruling the day at Haleiwa as Joel Centeio triumphed in the Hawaiian Reef Pro.

One solid barrel from way out the back was enough to clinch victory much to the delight of the spectators who cheered their second homegrown hero of the Vans Triple Crown (Alana Blanchard having taken the Women's Hawaiian Pro a few days previously).

Haleiwa was a little inconsistent, compounded by the WQS four man heat scenario, most competitors were scoring one good wave and winning or losing on the backup score. A three or four point wave became important. The swell was there, well overhead but it wasn't classic. The irritating trade winds really put paid to what could have been a classic final. The swell was sitting around 7ft at 15 seconds which with the right wind would and should have made for an epic event.

Alana Blanchard of Kauai was the first local hero of the series. She defeated reigning world champ Stephanie Gilmore in a close fought final on November 19th to take the Women's Hawaiian Pro. The crowd loved it as did the cameramen...

Defending Triple Crown champ, Joel Parkinson, having scored a perfect 10 with this barrel in the previous heat had one decent score under his belt in the quarters. Needing a score in the five range he agonisingly looked over the ledge of two waves with 30 seconds on the clock, saw the closeout and decided to leave them. No other waves came through in time and that was it.

Hank Gaskell powered through quarter final three with a confident display in waves which required serious selection. Hank really had been one of the picks of the event and pushed his case for the Hawaiian selection at Pipe.

The final quarter started pretty slowly and Alain Riou confidently went through in first place with CJ Hobgood in second. CJ took his sweet time to get his act together allowing Damien to chew his a fingers to a bit before displaying a bit of quality and coming through.

Joel Centeio absolutely performed above-and-beyond in semi final one, a confident display, supplemented by plenty of added support from the beach and a bit of local knowledge was more than enough. Burleigh boy, Jay Thompson, also made it through dumping both Damien Hobgood and Kai Otton out of the comp. Strike one to the WQS.

Hobgood then took first blood in the final, a few ok waves went down and then the ocean went flat. Suddenly with 8 minutes remaining the local hero Joel Centeio grabbed a 9.33 with a solid barrel and jumped into first place. Hobgood almost matched it but the wave didn't play ball as a monster set washed through the lineup.

Alain Riou, having looked so strong previously did little to impress the judges with his shadow impression. Entering the final 4 minutes either of the top three could have taken the event with one decent score but Huey was feeling the local support and smiled on Joel.

"In the final I was going for first place, nothing else. Said Joel. There were some lulls and I just sat out the back. I was 50 yards away from those guys. I was praying for a set. Then that set came. I got that shack then heard all the friends and family cheering for me. When I came out of that barrel it was the best feeling ever and I had to throw the claim."